1 Year of Ableton Live Packs! AfroDJRack #52 "Korg-asbord"

I am very excited to announce the 52nd free weekly AfroDJMac Ableton Live Pack: "Korg-asbord!" One year ago I decided to post an instrument rack I made with my laptop's microphone creating feedback with the internal speakers. When I began, I had no idea I'd be doing this every week for an entire year! So many people have been downloading the instruments and effects I have created, and I've gotten to know a lot of people I would have never met. I have been floored by the tracks people have created with these sounds. The support has been overwhelming and has inspired me in countless ways to continue to explore sound creation, sound design, and song writing. Thanks to everyone! As I move forward, I feel that this week is a good example of the direction I plan to take with my releases...

This week's free weekly AfroDJMac Ableton Live Pack began with a song I am working on titled, "This Is On Your Mind." Check out the video above for a live performance... After creating the basic tracks using the Korg iMS-20 app for the iPad, I brought the track into Ableton to "take it to the next level." This week's download features sampled instruments created with the Korg iMS-20.

The track is relatively simple, based on just one chord, two synths and three drum sounds. All of those sounds have been taken out the Korg iMS-20 app and placed into Ableton Instruments with their own effects and controls. The beauty is that Ableton allows us to take those sounds to sonic places impossible within the app. The Korg iMS-20 really sounds great and I hope you will find these instruments useful in your own productions.

As a bonus to these three most excellent instruments, I also created another instrument using the new Korg Monotron Duo (hence the title "Korg-asbord"). These samples were graciously sent to me by Hamtone. (This was extremely kind of him, so please check out his site and Like his Facebook page). I took some of those samples and stacked them up, along with a sine-wave-Operator synth, in an instrument rack. This allows you to mix all three sounds together to create some exciting timbres. If you checked out my 13th download, with the original Korg Monotron, you know not to be fooled by the diminutive stature of this synth; it is a deep, thick, heavy beast!

Now as if that is not enough, our friend JM-DG (the man who supplied the samples for the Dirty Trumpet and Shakey Muted Trumpet Packs) has sent me an incredible instrument rack made with an upright bass. I didn't even touch the rack and give it to you just as he gave it to me, because it is incredible! It has controls to change from bowed to pizzicato, arpeggiating delay, distortion, basically everything you could want. I'm sure that this instrument will find its place in many productions down the road, amazing! Stop by JM-DG's site and thank him!

I hope that gives you an idea of where I'd like to take my future releases. I want to do a bit more with each release, such as include music I am working and sharing those sounds with you, or including a bit more in the way of tutorials, advice and idea sharing. Doing this takes a bit more time, so I'm not going to promise a release every week, but rest assured I won't keep quiet and it won't be much less often. The end result will be a higher quality product!

So, I'd like to thank everyone who has been following all this time, I really do appreciate it. It's been a pleasure getting to know people with similar interests and learning from you all. Thanks very much and please spread the word around!!

AfroDJRacks for Ableton Live